Circ Desk (surk-desk): the Circulation Desk. It's on the first floor and it's where you check out books, reserve readings, and other stuff.
Usage: "Let me check this out at the circ desk; then we can go to the Grill."
Gov Docs (guvdox): libraryese for publications of the United States federal documents. Also used to denote the area in which these documents are kept.
Usage: "We haven't heard from Leah since she went up to the second floor, I bet she got lost in the gov docs .
ILL [eye-ell-ell]: Inter-Library Loan. This is a way to get a hold of books and articles not owned by the Mudd library. We have lending and borrowing agreements with libraries all over the state and region.
Usage:"I got this really obscure book on ILL from Marquette University."
LUCIA (loo-sha): the library's computer catalog system.
Usage: "Did you check LUCIA to see if we have that book?"
Main Collection: where the books are, on the third and fourth floors of the library.
Usage: "LUCIA says all these books are available in the Main Collection. I'd better head upstairs."
Periodical (peer-ee-odd-icull): a magazine or journal or newspaper that is published periodically (duh).
Usage: "That's a recent issue of Rolling Stone, so it's probably in Current Periodicals" or "Last year's Times Literary Supplement is shelved on Level A in Bound Periodicals.
Reserve: A collection of books and/or articles set aside for short-term use (usually two hours or three days) for students in particular classes. In the Mudd, reserves are kept behind the Circulation Desk. Electronic reserves are available through the Library's web site.
Usage: "I can't believe it--he put this mammoth book on two-hour reserve!"
Stacks (stax): the shelves where they keep the books.
Usage: often used colloquially, as in, "Oh she's got that paper due, so she's cruising the stacks , looking for books.
For even more lingo, see the Mudd's Glossary of Library Terms.
